Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Edward Rogers is out as board chair of Rogers Communications Inc., a move that comes as the latest development in a boardroom drama that has prompted the departure of a senior executive and the launch of an executive oversight committee.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, the company said John A. MacDonald will take over as chairman of the Rogers board of directors.
"This has been a challenging time for the Corporation and I want to reaffirm on behalf of the majority of the Board our support for and total confidence in the management team and CEO of Rogers Communications," said MacDonald in the statement.
Edward Rogers, who has served on the Rogers board since 2012, will remain on the board as a company director, the statement said.
Rogers Communications has been embroiled in an executive power struggle which developed after Edward Rogers tried to put former chief financial officer Tony Staffieri into the role of CEO and replace other members of the leadership team, according to media reports. Staffieri left the company effective Sept. 29, with Paulina Molnar named interim CFO.
Thursday, the board announced it has formed an executive oversight committee "to establish clear protocols for interactions between the chair and members of management" and said it would undertake a comprehensive corporate governance review.
"The board believes that these initiatives will further strengthen the company's corporate governance practices," it says in the management discussion and analysis document released along with the company's third-quarter financial results.
Joe Natale, president and chief executive of Rogers, publicly addressed the feud for the first time during the telecom company's quarterly earnings call Thursday morning.
His comments overshadowed the results, which analysts generally characterized as positive, and come as Rogers works to complete its purchase of Shaw Communications Inc.
Natale said he continues to have "strong unequivocal support" from the family-controlled firm's board of directors.
The statement comes after media reports describing an attempted ousting of Natale by board chair Edward Rogers. The attempt was blocked by other members of the board, including Rogers' sisters and mother, multiple reports say.
"I feel supported and rest assured that the entire executive team is focused on two things," Natale said during the conference call with analysts. "One, running the business to keep driving performance, and two, landing the Shaw transaction and the synergies and integration efforts that stand behind it."
Rogers reported a profit of $490 million, down from $512 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue held steady for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
The cable TV and wireless company said the profit amounted to 94 cents per diluted share, down from $1.01 per diluted share a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Rogers says it earned $1.03 per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of $1.08 per diluted share a year ago. Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.02 per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
A TD Securities Inc. client note called the results positive, saying the increase in new wireless subscribers and low churn was a "huge beat."
Rogers added 175,000 postpaid wireless subscribers, the highest third-quarter increase in 13 years. It also posted the lowest-ever third-quarter postpaid churn, which refers to the number of customers leaving.
"While messy boardroom and family discussions continue to play out in the media, the (third-quarter) results from Rogers show meaningful signs of improvement on many key metrics," the TD Securities note said.
"Service revenue growth also exceeded our above consensus expectations, and we note that the two-year growth ... improved meaningfully."
Rogers revenue for the quarter totalled $3.67 billion, identical to the same quarter last year, as higher service revenue in its wireless and cable businesses were offset by lower media and wireless equipment revenue.
The Shaw deal was announced earlier this year in a transaction valued at about $26 billion, including the assumption of $6 billion in debt. The acquisition is awaiting regulatory approval.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
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A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.